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To: Perdogg

When I interview a potential employee I always ask the following:

Why are manhole covers round?

Good things I am looking for:
-Someone who doesn’t get flustered.
-Someone who can actually think their way through the question.
-Someone who admits they don’t know the answer, but they will get back to me.

Any of these will score high marks on the question.

Bad responses:
-People who get shaken and start yammering
-Candidates who start blowing smoke, acting authoritative, even when they obviously are tap dancing.

Either one of these two occur and I seriously consider sending their application back to HR with a no thanks.

Then there is the person who obviously saw the question on the internet and blurts out the answer before I can even finish. That gets a neutral mark.


2 posted on 08/09/2013 10:50:47 AM PDT by Gamecock (Member: NAACAC)
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To: Gamecock
Why are manhole covers round?

So they can't fall into the hole. But I come from an engineering background and the solution is obvious to me.

4 posted on 08/09/2013 10:53:24 AM PDT by Tenacious 1 (Waiting for next tagline.)
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To: Gamecock

I used to ask these interview questions:

1. What is the most unethical thing you have witness or been a part of in either college or your profession?

2. What is the most important thing you have learned?

3. What is the most important mistake you have ever made? Why?


7 posted on 08/09/2013 10:57:14 AM PDT by Tenacious 1 (Waiting for next tagline.)
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To: Gamecock

So they don’t fall in the holes.


8 posted on 08/09/2013 10:57:33 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: Gamecock

“Why are manhole covers round?”

EZ. The longest distance on a square hole is the diagonal which is about 1.4 times the width of the square manhole cover.

Therefore....the square manhole would indeed fall into the hole.

QED


9 posted on 08/09/2013 11:00:32 AM PDT by buffaloguy
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To: Gamecock
Why are manhole covers round?

Good answer: What the hell does the shape of the manhole cover have to do with the job I am to perform? Oh, by the way, Mr Interviewer, do you know what cliches are and what 'received wisdom' is? So long Louie... etc.

15 posted on 08/09/2013 11:08:37 AM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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To: Gamecock

Every 18 month old knows a square doesn't fit a circle. The pat answer is so they don't fall in. Of course, no matter what shape they were, if the the cover is too small then someone is going to have to climb down and get it.

18 posted on 08/09/2013 11:11:16 AM PDT by bgill (This reply was mined before it was posted.)
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To: Gamecock

Why are manhole covers round?

Because manholes are round.


37 posted on 08/09/2013 11:38:32 AM PDT by IronJack (=)
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To: Gamecock
Interview questions like that I always thought were hard when I was younger, but when I got older I realized that they just want you to think your way through calmly and rationally. You just think about the question and answer it.

It always prepares to be ready for an interview, I got a new job two weeks ago by having a "brag book" of my work ready in all the areas that the company was looking for and making a kick ass visual resume. Proper preparation prevents poor performance.

39 posted on 08/09/2013 11:40:52 AM PDT by erod (I'm a Chicagoan till Chicago ends...)
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To: Gamecock

There is a flipside to that. I have been asked those questions, and I determined at that moment that I didn’t need the job badly enough to do the tap dance. One time I answered with a blunt “I don’t know” and said nothing else. There was a bit of awkward silence, and then the interviewer moved on.


41 posted on 08/09/2013 11:42:19 AM PDT by needmorePaine
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To: Gamecock

Why are manhole covers round? So they cannot fall through the rimmed hole and kill workers below.


46 posted on 08/09/2013 12:05:15 PM PDT by RJS1950 (The democrats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)
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To: Gamecock
Google's Weird Interview Questions: "A Complete Waste of Time"

I tend to agree.
52 posted on 08/09/2013 12:31:03 PM PDT by needmorePaine
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